The Fine Art of Graciousness

Over the past few years I have been called upon to write about my feelings where the topic of grace is concerned, and as my business grows I have found this to be a lost art, one I genuinely believe would do well to be in the roster of musts for most people I encounter. Don't mistake, I'm not implying that everyone I deal with is an ungrateful brat, not at all, but it is true, we have with feverent appetites devoured the lifestyle of instant and distant communication that to some, simple eye contact can seem downright scary. To then expect that such individuals would step beyond the text message and wall posts to express their emotions is considered "old school" and not progressive. I say no. I say this is not only a lost tradition that shouldn't ever be in question, but I firmly believe those that actually do speak on the telephone, send  handwritten note or wow, let's get really crazy and acknowledge someone's efforts and say "thank you" are the ones that rise to the top to be the creme that makes the pudding all the sweeter to eat.

The dictionary defines gracious as; "being pleasantly kind, benevolent and courteous." So, what does that mean exactly? In our age of immediate gratification, bombarded stimuli and sensory overload, how do we act with “pleasant kindness” or what is “benevolent” any way?  The act and art of graciousness  is all about how you make the people around you feel. What if you were attending a get together at a new co-worker’s house and  you were not introduced to anyone? What if you were left to fend for yourself feeling ignored or left out? This would not be a gracious moment on your friend’s part. Whether intentional or not, when you find yourself in the company of people who are not behaving graciously, it feel funky, out of sorts and leaves you with a sense of being discounted and not valued or appreciated. Find this happening repeatedly with the same individual and you may opt to no longer associate with that person. Graciousness can be very profound on both levels, as the one extending the gracious gesture and as someone receiving it from you. The same is true that should you not choose to extend graciousness to another person, they in turn may find you someone they choose not to continue to engage with - suddenly the calls stop, invitations cease and you wonder what happened - it could be you neglected to be gracious when the opportunity was right there in front of you.

This is from an original post on the blog MindBodyGreen that I wrote, sharing a list of 10 ways to show your gracious side. So, what are a few characteristics of  graciousness?